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Written Assignment Unit 2:

University of the People

HIST 1421: GREEK AND ROMAN CIVILIZATION

Trico Lutkins, Instructor

July 01, 2020

Democracy is in our current times the default political and gouvernance system we credit it's

birth in ancient Greece and precisely in the city of Athenes. However

"Greece in those times was not a single political entity but rather a collection of some 1,500

separate poleis or 'cities' scattered round the Mediterranean and Black Sea shores" ("The

Democratic Experiment", 2011). Each city had it's own political system ad way of governing.

Monarchy and Tyrrany

According to Merriam Webster "a government having a hereditary chief of state with life

tenure and powers varying from nominal to absolute". 'Monarchies are called Tyrannies where

the sole ruler had usurped power by force rather than inheritance" ("The Democratic

Experiment", 2011) or when the gouvernement have an unlimited power and use it unfairly and

with cruelty" Cambridge dictionary

Sparta was the most representative of this form of power,(tyranny) they held absolute power on

their helot states and treating them unfairly.

Aristocracy

According to Cambridge dictionary "An aristocracy is also a government ruled by or consisting

of people of a high social class." All Greek city sates were ruled by aristocracies in one way or

another. Even in the most democratic cities like Athenes, although not the lineage but the

wealth of people determined their political power and only men from Athenians parents.
Democracy

According to Merriam Webster "a government in which the supreme power is vested in the

people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually

involving periodically held free elections"

"By the time of Aristotle (fourth century BC) there were hundreds of Greek democracies. Athene

begin the most direct and most known of all of them.' ("The Democratic Experiment", 2011) .

However contrary to what we think not everyone held political power and that power was not

equal among all. The right to vote was only for adult men from Athenian parents and the

wealth of these men determined their political power and what kind of public office they could

seek.

Oligarchy

According to Oxford as, “a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or

institution.” If we follow this definition then All of Greek city states were Oligarchies since in

all cities states whatever their system, only a minority of privileged men citizen had a say in

political affairs of their city in all cases it's a minority of males citizen.

Conclusion:

One thing we can see is that no Greek city has an archetypal system . We can see a city with a

dominant system with however elements of others. The biggest and most opposites cities of

Sparta and it's dictatorship and Athènes and it's Democracy both had strong elements

of Oligarchy and Aristocracy that were having a strong influence of the gouvernement of the
city. In both only a minority of males made all the decision, salves and women had no rights.

Although Greece may be the cradle of democracy we were by that time very far from what we

could consider a proper rule by the people, however given a period where Kings were like gods,

it was a real innovation which after a millennia will have the biggest influence on modern times.
References:

The Democratic Experiment. (2011). Retrieved 2 July 2020, from

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/greeks/greekdemocracy_01.shtml

Word Count: 566